Baby Raccoons

by **Marinepits** » July 11th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Malli wrote:umm, its no joke

Oh, yeah, I know! I was ridiculously anal about keeping my hands clean and sanitizing the garage area after I sent them to WIC. I let them keep the crate, too.

by **madremissy** » July 11th, 2008, 6:34 pm

Malli wrote:Racoon safety alert!
careful handling racoons or what they've been in contact with! They can give people Racoon Roundworm, wich is little "bugs" that migrate to the tissues of your eyes and your brain! There is no cure!

We have racoons that come up to the deer feeder every night. Big ones to.

by **Malli** » July 11th, 2008, 7:34 pm

I work with a wildlife rehabber and she mentioned that the only real way she knows to sanitize for racoon roundworm is fire :shock:

by **madremissy** » July 11th, 2008, 7:53 pm

Malli wrote:I work with a wildlife rehabber and she mentioned that the only real way she knows to sanitize for racoon roundworm is fire

So do I need to do a control burn around the area.

by **gayrghts** » July 11th, 2008, 8:01 pm

can this be spread to dogs and cats, and then to humans?

by **Jenn** » July 11th, 2008, 8:13 pm

Yes, please do tell!!

by **Marinepits** » July 11th, 2008, 8:33 pm

Malli wrote:I work with a wildlife rehabber and she mentioned that the only real way she knows to sanitize for racoon roundworm is fire

I don't think the hubby would appreciate me setting the garage on fire, LOL.

by **madremissy** » July 11th, 2008, 8:45 pm

Marinepits wrote:
Malli wrote:I work with a wildlife rehabber and she mentioned that the only real way she knows to sanitize for racoon roundworm is fire

I don't think the hubby would appreciate me setting the garage on fire, LOL.

by **Malli** » July 12th, 2008, 1:50 am

Jenn wrote::shock: Yes, please do tell!!

not sure

It apparently doesn't affect Racoons the same way as people, and I know they can share diseases with dogs (distemper, for example), so one could assume..., though, given the repercussions of getting this wrong it seems dangerous to assume; I'm not sure about cats. I checked our local animal Rehab Center and it just mentions communicable diseases to us and pets, nothing specific

I'll see if I can remember to ask someone at work...

by **call2arms** » July 13th, 2008, 5:53 pm

Yum... Roundworms.

I went to Mont-Royal (a mountain in themiddle of my town) to watch fireworks, and since it's very wooded, lots of raccoons... People were sitting on the ground, and at first I tought I saw a cat, since it was dark, but it was a raccoon... Thern I realized there were like 10 of them, one on his hind legs being fed by someone! Very cute but people are so stupid!!

We've had raccoon rabies alert on the south shore, I ain't touching any...

by **Malli** » July 14th, 2008, 4:45 am

I have a little more info...

it causes blindness in cats and dogs.

It is a Visceral larval migrant (I think?), and the visceral tissues in the racoon are different then people (apparently the worm is happy to live in the intestines of the raccoon), so in people it leaves the intestines (transmission is feces to mouth :puke:

) and works its way to the type of tissue it likes. My wildlife rehabber buddy said that bleach(kills the eggs), as well as fire will disinfect, but that fire needs to be used in the case of a dirt-floor pen etc (bleach and other disinfectants can only be used of smooth, non-porus surfaces or to saturate a substance...)

I'm going to try and ask a vet at work, but I think the rehabber is going to ask at the wildlife place for me, because the vets at work are pretty well limited to domesticated stuff....

by **call2arms** » July 14th, 2008, 10:21 am

The worm that raccoons carry is Bayliascaris procyonis. They live in the digestive systrem of the raccoon, shed in feces, but since they all poop in the same spot (called latrines), the eggs accumulate, and that can be your attic, roof or got knows where. If it's on your roof, when it's raining it can get down to the ground, and it's then more accessible to humans.
So kids are particularly ar risk (most infected humand are kids) and tne larvae migrates in the central nervous system, goes to the eyes and brain. But, asymptomatic and mild infectiosn are probably the most common so it's not possible to know how common it is.
Toxocara canis (dog roundworm) is the one mostly accused of visceral larva migrans, but Bailyascaris procyonis is more virulent and more aggressive. They can quickly invade the CNS and cause large damage/inflammation, so really sometic (they didn't want to end uo there) migration in your eye is not that bad...
Usually it's diagnosed too late, but if caught Albendazole (a dewormer) and streoids to reduce inflammation are used, but often the patient remains neurologically impaired.

I'm not smart, what I wrote is a quick version of this: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no12/03-0039.htm

by **Marinepits** » July 14th, 2008, 10:44 am

call2arms wrote:I'm not smart

Hey, now! Yes, you is.

You do seem to have issues with posting Ireland pictures, though..... :wink:

by **Malli** » July 14th, 2008, 4:09 pm

proper info!

by **call2arms** » July 14th, 2008, 5:02 pm

Smart enough to type raccoon larva migrans on google... lol

by **Malli** » July 14th, 2008, 5:06 pm

well but I don't trust my medical knowledge enough to know if I'm reading something that sounds accurate :oops:

by **Jenn** » July 14th, 2008, 5:37 pm

SO.... Now ya'll have me seriously concerned!!

The coons that seem to think my home is a buffet, could make my daughter and I sick with this brain eating worm? :confused:

by **call2arms** » July 14th, 2008, 6:24 pm

Seeing as it comes from the CDC (center for disease control and prevention, a .gov site) it seems like a decent source...

by **Jenn** » July 14th, 2008, 6:59 pm

I'm sad, guess I won't feed them anymore.

by **call2arms** » July 14th, 2008, 10:23 pm

I tought briefly that you could deworm them, but they would re-contamine themselves through their own poop... They're so cute though...

Baby Raccoons

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